The Thomas Christians Before the Portuguese Arrival

With regard to the status of the Indian St. Thomas Christians before the Portuguese arrival, it is admitted unanimously by all classical historians that it was in close connection with East Syrian Christianity. The expansion of Christianity in the East, especially in India, was not the work of Hellenist Christian missionaries from Antioch or from the Roman Empire; it was the work of Jewish Christian missionaries such as Adai in Edessa, Aggai and Mari in Persia, and Thomas in India. The Christian churches thus formed were ecclesiastically independent of Antioch or any other centre in the West.

Travelers' Record

The first substantial mention of the church of St. Thomas in modern India is made by Western travelers of the late Middle Ages: Marco Polo (1298), John of Monte Corvino (1293), Friar Odoric (1325), John de Maringolly (1349), and Nicolo Conti (c. 1440). All mention a church or shrine of St. Thomas in India at Mylapur. The first unquestionable historical evidence of an Indian church and its relation with the East Syrian church is from Cosmos the Alexandrine traveler (520–530), who mentions in his Christian Topography well-organized Christian churches in Ceylon, Malabar, Calliana, and Socotra with bishops appointed from Persia.

Migration of East Syrians to Kerala

There were at least two important waves of immigration of Persian Christians to India: one in the 4th century and the other in the 9th. The tradition about the first is that 72 families of Persian Christians under the leadership of a merchant Thomas, including deacons, priests and a bishop, migrated and settled at Kodungalloor; Cheraman Perumal, the King of Malabar, invested them with royal privileges inscribed on copper plates. The second migration is dated to AD 823; the tradition claims that Christian immigrants led by Mar Sapor and Mar Prot rebuilt the town of Quilon in AD 825, from which date the Malayalam era is reckoned. Five copper plates still in existence record grants made to the Christians in Quilon by the kings. Five carved stone Crosses (St. Thomas Crosses) discovered in South India, dated to the 7th or 8th century, are Persian Crosses and testify to the connection between the Indian church and the Persian church.

Witness of Persian Sources

The Chronicle of Seert (7th century) mentions that Dudi, bishop of Basra, left his see between AD 295–300 and went to India where he evangelized many people. At the beginning of the 5th century (410) the bishopric of Rewardashir was elevated to a Metropolitanate and given jurisdiction over relations with India. Patriarch Ishoyahb II (628–43) appointed a Metropolitan for India separately. Patriarch Timothy I (779–823) in his letters attests to the Indian church under the East Syrian Patriarchate. A lectionary composed at Crangannore in 1301 refers to the compiler as deacon Zachariah and to Mar Jacob as the leader of the Holy Indian church occupying the See of the Apostle St. Thomas.

Possible Conclusions

By and large Christianity in India till 1599 belonged to the East Syrian church. Its supreme head was the Catholicos-Patriarch of Babylon. India had bishops and enjoyed Metropolitan status; the bishops were always East Syrian. The church of India never had a native ecclesiastical language—Syriac was its liturgical tongue. The Thomas Christians enjoyed a sound social status and lived an appreciable indigenous lifestyle in harmony with non-Christian communities, but in church matters they were followers of the East Syrian Church and its characteristics.